Why advocates and some police want the term 'femicide' added to the Criminal Code

In a rare move, the Ottawa Police Service is using the term 'femicide' to describe the motivation investigators believe to be behind the killing of a 47-year-old mother.

In a rare move, the Ottawa Police Service is using the term “femicide” to describe the motivation investigators believe to be behind the killing of a 47-year-old mother.

It’s believed to be the first time a police force in Canada has used the word in the context of a murder investigation where evidence is still being gathered.

Advocates who focus on eradicating violence against women hope this will spur other police agencies to do the same and pave the way for legislation to entrench “femicide” into the criminal code of Canada.

Jennifer Zabarylo’s battered body was found inside her home in rural Ottawa on Sunday. She died of traumatic injuries. A few hours later, Ottawa Police charged her husband, Michael Zabarylo, 55, with second-degree murder after he turned himself in.

In a news release announcing the charges one day after she was killed, OPS described the death as a femicide, alleging “it occurred in the context of intimate partner violence, which is one of the many forms of misogynist killings.”

In an interview with CTV National News, Deputy Chief Trish Ferguson acknowledged that adopting the term has taken lengthy internal discussions which began in 2022.

Part of the pushback came from officers who were hesitant to use a label that was not codified in law.